As I’m using openHAB with various presence/contact sensors, I’m considering adding a way to centrally trigger a scenario, pretty much like what is done with an alarm system.
I have seen various options, either 433MHz, Zigbee or even wire based but I’m a bit lost as to what would integrate properly into openHAB.
For instance, there was a thread almost three years ago about a Zigbee based keypad, but it was said the binding does not support such things.
Would you have any recommendation?
I feel that a dedicated android tablet with HABPanel would be a bit of an overkill, both in terms of functionalities and electrical consumption.
A bit thinking out of the box:
One option using something different could for example be a 4-gang zigbee switch.
I own such a Tuya switch connected using zigbee2mqtt.
Those switches send information about the button presses as an action topic and differentiate between single, long and double press. This would give you 12 digits to build your code upon and you might be able use a rule to combine the events received and compare it to a given pass code.
Not as fancy as a dedicated keypad, but cheap and working.
And if you chose the button press combinations weird enough you even have encryption by obfuscation
If you are looking for something that fits into e.g. a 55mm frame you might go for the Z-Wave heat-it switch - not cheap but a bit prettier.
Both of them run on batteries.
Personally, I just tell Google Assistant that “I’m leaving”, and it toggles my Away Mode switch. If you want, you can have Google ask for a passcode for authentication. I think Alexa does this as well.
It sounds like you don’t have Z-Wave, in which case I wouldn’t add it just for this. @Oggerschummer, how well does your Zigbee scene controller handle multiple fast button presses?
I wouldn’t say it’s overkill, particularly if you expand its use. My habpanel tablet serves as a thermostat, weather station, and volume control for my multi-room audio system. I can also toggle my system modes with it.
If you have an old tablet or phone collecting dust, then the money you don’t spend on new hardware will easily offset the energy cost. The electrical consumption is insignificant if the screen is usually off.
You can also just set up a habpanel that you treat as a phone app specifically for activating your system. It won’t be centrally mounted, but if you’re just leaving the house then the odds are that your phone is in your hand.
Just tried, it recognizes max. 2 presses per second. Not as fast as a dedicated keypad I know, but a very cheap option. I only use the switch for my lights, not as a keypad (I have a finger print scanner so its not required).
No, I’m not, it’s running on a server that handles a lot of other things here.
But I do have a couple of ESP32s lying around here, so I could hack something together.
Final appearance wouldn’t be that good, though, and this would mean finally taking the time to tighten security on the MQTT broker that I use here.
Ah yes, but I’m not very comfortable with those devices that keep on listening and report to who know who. Maybe I’m too paranoid on this, but…
This is indeed what I might end up doing, but am looking at other options just in case.
Fair enough. The way I see it, smartphones are a bigger risk, and we’re perfectly comfortable taking them everywhere we go. Amazon and Google have nothing to gain from illicit recordings.
I created that habpanel keypad, but I already have a wall mounted touchscreen monitor w Linux running chromium and habpanel.
But here’s another keypad I made w ESP32, with rfid reader and fingerprint sensor. What you see on that little screen is exactly what shows on a real alarm keypad (Honeywell vista)
